Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems
June Jordan, . . Copper Canyon, $40 (649pp) ISBN 978-1-55659-228-7
As fierce in her activist life as in her passionate verse, Jordan (1936–2002) first rose to fame in the early '70s with declamatory poems and series inspired by African-American vernacular: "Who look at me?" her first series demanded; "I am black alive and looking back at you." A flexible metrical sense, and an undercurrent of humor, set her best work apart from her performance-oriented peers early on; Jordan later expanded her range with travel (in a series of poems about life in Rome), with persona poems and satire ("Directions for Carrying Explosive Nuclear Waste Through Metropolitan New York"; "The Beirut Jokebook") During the '80s, Jordan (
Reviewed on: 06/27/2005
Genre: Nonfiction
Open Ebook - 640 pages - 978-1-61932-080-2
Paperback - 640 pages - 978-1-55659-234-8